Cabinet Office

Sleeping Rough: Death

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many rough sleepers died on the streets in (1) 1989, (2) 2000, (3) 2010, and (4) 2015.

lord young of cookham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. Dear Lord Roberts, As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking how many rough sleepers died on the streets in (1) 1989, (2) 2000, (3) 2010, and (4) 2015 (HL15299). Last year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the first ‘Experimental Statistics of the number of deaths of homelessness people in England and Wales’[1]. The statistics include those who were sleeping rough or using emergency accommodation such as shelters for homeless people, at or around the time of death. It is not presently possible to separate ‘rough sleepers’ as a distinct category from other homeless people included in the data. These statistics only cover the period 2013 to 2017, so figures for 1989, 2000 and 2010 are not available. Table 1 below provides the estimated number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales for each year between 2013 and 2017. The figures are estimates which are based on deaths registered in the relevant years of individuals identified as homeless based on information provided on the death certificate, at the time of registration or in a coroner’s report to ONS, such as the words ‘no fixed abode’ or mention of a place known to be a shelter for homeless people, plus a statistical calculation of under-reporting.  Yours sincerely,John Pullinger Table 1: Estimated number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, registered between 2013 and 2017[2],[3]  YearDeaths20175972016565201550820144752013482 [1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsofhomelesspeopleinenglandandwales/2013to2017[2]Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each calendar year.[3]Figures for England and Wales may include deaths of non-residents.

Intelligence Services: Detainees

lord hodgson of astley abbotts: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the report of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's consultation on the Consolidated Guidance to Intelligence Officers and Service Personnel on the Detention and Interviewing of Detainees Overseas, and on the Passing and Receipt of Intelligence Relating to Detainees to be published.

lord young of cookham: The Government understands that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s proposals for how the Consolidated Guidance could be improved should be submitted shortly. The Government will respond to those proposals in due course.

Interserve

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Young of Cookham on 23 April (HL15116), what well-evidenced assessment they made when deciding to outsource public service provision to Interserve; and what assessment has been made of the quality and reliability of its provision.

lord young of cookham: Contracts are never awarded lightly; each has an agreed and robust process. Government has always been compliant with public procurement regulations and follows these diligently when assessing the suitability of suppliers to deliver a particular contractThe various contracting authorities, such as individual Government Departments, manage their contracts with Interserve and monitor performance against each contract. I am unable to comment on specifics as this information remains commercially sensitiveThe Cabinet Office also monitors the overall financial health and performance of all of our strategic suppliers, including Interserve, and has regular discussions with the company’s management.

Department for Education

Adoption

lord russell of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support regional adoption agencies will provide for adoptive families from 2020 onwards.

lord agnew of oulton: Over half of all local authorities in England are already delivering adoption services through a regional adoption agency (RAA), and we expect all local authorities to be doing so from 2020. RAAs aim to deliver a regional adoption system where sufficient high-quality adoption services are available nationwide for all adopted children and their families.Following the launch of a RAA it will be the responsibility of the agency to ensure that high quality adoption support is available within their region. This will be driven by local need and developed through learning from best practice across the regionalised system. All services should be provided to meet the requirements as set out in the Adoption and Children Act (2002).

Ministry of Justice

Courts: Greater London

lord blunkett: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the week beginning 8 April 2019, how many court buildings in theGreater London area were inaccessible to (1) defendants and witnesses with disabilities, (2) members of the public and court staff with disabilities, and (3) court staff with disabilities; how many of those buildingswere only temporarily inaccessible in that week because of broken lifts;and how many courts wereinaccessible to at least one of these groupsfor (1) more than one week, and (2) more than one month.

lord keen of elie: HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to ensuring access to courts and tribunals is maintained for staff and service users. We have a reasonable adjustments policy in place to accommodate those with particular access requirements. 31 of the 56 total court and tribunal buildings in the Greater London area were inaccessible to those with disabilities during the week commencing 8 April 2019. Those affected by the inaccessible buildings can be broken down as follows: Defendants – 26Witnesses – 7Members of the public – 7Court staff – 0 Of these, 2 of those buildings were temporarily inaccessible in that week because of broken lifts. 1 of those buildings was inaccessible for more than one week, and 1 for more than one month. Disabled access was typically not factored in when many of our court and tribunal buildings were built. However, we have a number of accessible courts that our criminal justice partners are aware of, and these are used to list cases where a defendant might have accessibility needs.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Sheep

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to have the new system for ageing lambs to be in place.

lord gardiner of kimble: At this present time, lambs presented for slaughter will continue to be subject to existing domestic legislative arrangements. This means there is no change to current systems. Sheep aged over 12 months or with 1 permanent incisor erupted in the gum will be split and Specified Risk Material (SRM) removed. We have been discussing an alternative process put forward by the industry. Under this process, all lambs evidenced as born the previous year and presented for slaughter would not routinely be tooth-checked. This would enable the industry to take advantage of last year’s amendment to the EU TSE Regulation that enables Member States to approve a different method for estimating whether a lamb is aged over twelve months for the purpose of removing the skull and spinal cord. Key steps for us to introduce such a change would be:an amendment to our domestic legislation to protect the food business operator from unwittingly acting unlawfully in breach of the requirements set out in Schedule 7 of the TSE statutory instruments;an agreed and enforceable protocol for use at the slaughterhouse to meet the needs of our official controls; anda public consultation to offer the opportunity for all relevant parties to comment, including consumers, retailers, food processors, slaughterhouse operators and farmers. We have carefully and thoroughly looked at all possibilities to fast-track this work. Given legislative processes and the need to agree the protocol and carry out a public consultation, and to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are sufficiently informed and prepared for implementation, it will not be feasible to deliver the change in time for this year’s proposed cut-off date of 30 June 2019. Officials will work with stakeholders on introduction, bearing in mind the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU.

Department for Exiting the European Union

British Nationals Abroad: EU Countries

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support any British citizen returning to live in the UK following the UK's departure from the EU.

lord callanan: The Government has always been clear and steadfast in our commitment to protecting citizens' rights. We have announced a series of measures to protect UK nationals in the EU and those who choose to return to the UK after exit.This includes: access to NHS-funded healthcare, a transition period until March 2022 for UK nationals to return from the EU with their non-UK family members and for those family members to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme and reassurance for UK nationals on their entitlement to UK benefits and services if they choose to return to the UK.The measures aim to provide maximum certainty to UK nationals in both a deal and no deal scenario.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: Kiribati

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards agreeing a new trade agreement with Kiribati.

baroness fairhead: Our first priority is to deliver continuity in our trading arrangements on leaving the EU. The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries once we leave the EU. This will provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme by granting duty-free, quota-free access to 48 Least Developed Countries, including Kiribati. In addition, the existing EU-Pacific States Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), currently in effect between the EU, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, provides for other Pacific countries to apply to accede to it, including Kiribati. The new UK-Pacific States EPA, signed on 14 March between the UK, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, carries over this accession commitment.

Trade Agreements: Indonesia

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards agreeing a new trade agreement with Indonesia.

baroness fairhead: The Government is working with the Indonesian Government to address existing trade barriers between the two countries, and to consider options for strengthening our bilateral trading relationship in the future. We also continue to support the ongoing EU-CEPA negotiations. To support trade with developing countries, the Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme. This will provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme, granting duty-free, quota-free access to 48 Least Developed Countries and granting generous tariff reductions to other developing countries, including Indonesia.